CPS dropped rape case 'because woman was wearing Spanx underwear'

New figures reveal that 133 fewer rape suspects were convicted in 2013 than
the year before and the number of rape cases referred to prosecutors for
charging has fallen by more than a third since 2011

A lawyer told a woman who had been raped that they would not be pursuing her case because she was wearing SpanxPhoto: Alamy

By Keith Perry

12:10AM BST 02 May 2014

A fall in the number of rape convictions has prompted fears over whether victims are being properly dealt with as it emerged that one woman had her case dropped due to the type of underwear she was wearing.

The drop in convictions has led the Director of Public Prosecutions to express concern about the way rape cases are handled.

In one case, a lawyer told a woman who had been raped that they would not be pursuing her case, “particularly bearing in mind the type of underwear that you had on at the time”.

The woman, who has asked for anonymity, says she was wearing Spanx body-shaping hosiery.

New figures reveal that 133 fewer rape suspects were convicted in 2013 than the year before and the number of rape cases referred to prosecutors for charging has fallen by more than a third since 2011. This is despite a rise in offences recorded by police.

Alison Saunders, the Director of Public Prosecutions, told the The Independent, that there were worrying variations in the way rape cases are dealt with across the country.

“We have certainly seen some indication that cases which we thought should have gone through [to charge] didn’t,” she said.

She added: “There is best practice out there. It’s just that not everyone is doing it.”

The Crown Prosecution Service and police have already set up an expert panel to assess the problem which is expected to produce new national guidelines for police and prosecutors.

Figures given to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism by the CPS show that last year there were 1,747 fewer rape cases sent to the CPS by the police than in 2010, while the number of rape convictions fell from 2,433 to 2,300.

The fall in convictions raises serious concerns that, despite previous policy reviews and improvements to management of rape cases, police and prosecutors are still not getting to grips with the crime.

Ms Saunders said the improved conviction rates showed the CPS and the police were getting better at building stronger cases.

But the drop in referrals and convictions has been criticised by organisations working with survivors of sexual violence.

Marianne Hester, professor of gender and violence at Bristol University, said it gave a wrong impression that those reporting attacks “are just making it up”.

“The number of convictions should be much higher,” she said. “But most cases do not end up in court, and this is not because the rape did not happen but because the police may not be vigorous enough in pursuing evidence, or because victims may be deemed too fragile to cope in the court setting, or because they are seen as the ‘wrong’ kind of victim if they have been raped before.”